Editor's Note: This is the fifth annual appearance of What It’s Like, a proven favorite with readers inside and outside Rotary. - The Rotarian
Joyce Azzam - Rotary Club of Beyrouth, Lebanon
I started hiking in 2005 and got serious about high-altitude climbs a few years later, when I won a scholarship to study in Europe and spent a lot of time in the Alps. In 2012, I developed this big dream to complete the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each continent. But it wasn’t something I ever expected to do.
I was born during the civil war in Lebanon, and what I remember from my childhood is moving from bunker to bunker, living underground. I was one of five kids in a very modest family. My dad painted buildings and did construction. For us, the focus was just to eat and survive, and later to get a good education and make a living. Nobody was thinking about climbing mountains.
I always feared heights, and I was never a sporty girl. In fact, I have a physical challenge called hyperlaxity, which is a condition where the joints in my legs are loose. My knees would bend backward. It looks very odd, and when I was young the other kids would bully me about it. They even called me “alien.” I couldn’t run more than 50 or 100 meters. I would challenge myself every day to run a little farther, using the pillars on the playground. I wanted to say to myself that I am strong in front of all those kids. Maybe it started there, my desire to climb mountains. It’s become a mission for me to tell everyone who has a physical problem, or another kind of challenge to overcome, that they can do the impossible if they want it badly enough.
